Melanade – Solange

Welcome to another edition of Melanade, where we feature women of color who are doing great things! This month we are featuring the artistic genius

Solange Knowles!

Singer, songwriter, mother, actress and fashion icon… all of these describe the artist known as Solange Knowles. When your name means “Angel of the sun” you are destined for greatness. This woman has a very eclectic mind that is able to translate the weary ways of the world into a beautiful tapestry of melodies and words. Quickly becoming a voice of her generation, Solo had taken her talent to new heights with her latest project “A Seat at the Table”. She won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance for “Cranes in the Sky” from the same album.

It can’t be easy carving out your own niche in the music industry when your big sis is slaying, but Solange makes it look easy. It reminds me of Janet breaking into her own star, being the little sis of the King of Pop. And just like Janet, Solange’s talent in undeniable and cannot be contained.

For a 30 year old, Solange has accomplished many goals that people twice her age have yet to do. Becoming a mother as a teen, she started her responsible years early, but she has handled her life amazingly.  Not only does she write the amazing songs on her own albums, she is an accomplished writer for other artists as well. According to an interview with NecoleBitchie.com, she has written quite a few songs with Mariah Carey in mind and would love to have her sing her creations.

 

She’s had an undeniable influence on our culture from fashion, to being a proud black woman dawning her natural hair, and artistic movement.  Don’t believe me? Listen to what intellectual Kimberly Foster has to say about her.

If you are not up on Solange, I urge you to get to know her. You’ll thank me later.

 

 

 

 

Melanade – Grace Jones

Welcome to another edition of Melanade, where we feature women of color who are doing great things! This month we are featuring the incomparable Grace Jones!

Sexy! Shocking! Beautiful! Dangerous! Icon Grace Beverly Jones is all of those things and more. She ruled the 80s and is still going strong today. Whether she is tearing up the runway, smoking up the silver screen, rocking the concert stage or gracing us with her loud and proud personality on the tube, Grace is undeniably everything!

 

A visionary before her time, Grace is still influencing artist all over the globe in 2017. Check the receipts. Rihanna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and more have her to thank for creating the bar and setting it so high they have something to reach for. Once heard in an interview with Joan Rivers saying she dated twins, she helped break stereotypes that women are not sexual beings.

She unapologetically proved women are not only sexual, but not afraid to ask for what we want. She broke barriers in interracial dating, being from Jamaican descent and dating Swedish twins. Her four year relationship with actor Dolph Lungren was buzzing all over the world. She was also the talk of the town when she starred opposite The Roger Moore in “View to a Kill” as bond girl “Mayday”. And yes, there was a sex scene!

 

Her career spanned decades proving that she had staying power. My generation remembers her fondly from her role in Eddie Murphy’s cult classic “Boomerang” where she played diva/supermodel Strangé! IMHO that was the defining role to launch her into the stratosphere as the superstar she is in the acting world.

Jones is also known for her music around the world. Her rendition of “Pull up To the Bumper” is still played in heavy rotation. I have never had the pleasure, but I hear her concerts were off the rails!

Grace was never known as the classic beauty according to European standards, but she is edgy and gorgeous just the same. She is a photographer’s dream with the angles of her cheekbones and her squared jaw line. Beauty is not all she possesses. Grace speaks five languages and is an author. Her book “I’ll Never Write My Memoirs” was released in 2015.

She has broken barriers in the entertainment industry, while doing things her way. She never let anyone tell her what she couldn’t do and she thrived in controversy.

When it comes to Grace Jones…

Melanade – Beah Richards

Melanade is a place for women of color, who are doing great things in the world, to be honored. I am quite aware that Beah Richards is deceased, however, I feel her voice and bodies of work are still making a great impact in this world.

 

Beah Richards(1920 – 2000) was a poet, playwright and author, but she was best known as an actress of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” fame, where she earned an Academy Award nomination.She was a at home on the stage, staring in James Baldwin’s “Amen Corner”.  She was also a staple on television throughout her career. In 1988 she received her first Emmy for her performance in ‘Frank’s Place’ and again in 2000 she was honored with the Emmy just days before her death for her role in ‘The Practice’.

She was a strong activist who fought for equality for blacks in America. She did not hold her tongue and was willing to die for her beliefs. In 2004, Lisa Gay Hamilton accepted The Peabody Award for Beah:A Black Woman Speaks, a biographical film about Beah’s life.